On June 4^th, 1993, a Chinese cargo ship ran aground on Rockaway Beach in New York.  This mishap revealed that almost 300 Chinese immigrants were packed aboard the cargo ship attempting to get into the U.S. illegally.  In order to avoid persecution, these immigrants jumped off the ship and tried to swim ashore and escape officials.  Unfortunately, while a majority of these immigrants were saved, 10 drowned before they touched American soil.  In Peter Cohn’s documentary Golden Venture, we follow a group of these survivors and learn about what they had to go through and where they are now.

In my opinion, this movie does a good job of telling the story of the Golden Venture from different perspectives.  After being rescued, all of the passengers (with the exception of the very few who were able to escape) were taken into federal custody.  They were kept in York County Prison for many years awaiting political asylum.  During this time, all of the immigrants were offered the choice of getting deported or staying in prison and await an uncertain future.  Of those who chose deportation, some chose to be deported to South America while most were sent back to China.  While the U.S. government promised these deportees that they would not be harmed in any way once they arrived in China, the Chinese government had something else entirely in store for them.

Another thing this movie did quite well was present its facts and events in a credible way.  We would first be told of the (presumably true) facts, for example, the fact that the U.S. government promised the deportees that they would come to no harm.  The movie then either proves or disproves these facts by having the Golden Venture passengers recount what happened to them.  Of the ~50 men who chose deportation, we are able to hear 2 of these men, Yan Li and Kaiqu Zheng, tell their story.  According to both men, despite the American governments assurance, after landing in China, they were detained in federal prison and punished before being allowed to go.  It is interesting to see the strikingly different environments all of the Golden Venture’s passengers have ended up in.  While some remained in prison for many years and are now working hard for their loved ones, others have chosen another path.  The two men who chose deportation ended up in very dissimilar situations.  While Yan Li managed to come back to America and now lives illegally in New York, Kaiqu  Zheng could be seen happily getting everything ready for his daughter’s wedding in China.  Yan Li, on the other hand, confesses that he has lost his family.

Though the movie was informative overall, it was clearly bias and did a very good job of making the immigrants seem like the victims who deserved to be saved.  Although they were victimized to an extent, the movie forgets to point out that these immigrants boarded the Golden Venture at their own risk and chose to enter a country illegally ready to face the consequences.  It’s likely that they never imagined they would have to deal with such a tragedy, but that does not mean they were not at fault.  Personally, I think the fact that these immigrants spent so much time in jail just shows that they should be entitled to remain in America.  Nevertheless, I felt that the movie exaggerated their time spent in prison by mentioning the paper sculptures they made, making it seem like that was all they were able to do during their time at York (I have trouble believing these people sat around making origami for over 3 years).  Nonetheless, I thought the movie was very informative and interesting and I was relieved when it came to a (mostly) satisfying end (especially considering the other movie we had to watch, Sentenced Home).